The Best TV Series of 2020
From sprawling sports docs to vampire comedies.
Every product was carefully curated by an Esquire editor. We may earn a commission from these links.
Well. We did it. We made it to the end of the year, and while there are probably a long list of people you might want to thank for getting you to this point, the real hero this year has been television. After a year primarily spent in quarantine, television had the impossible job of giving us prestige drama, high camp, lowly reality TV snackables, and also Al Pacino fighting Nazis. As the kids online say, "We ate good this year."
Looking back at a year's worth of television is always a curious exercise because, to some extent, it reveals something about where we're at as a culture. Remember the beginning of the year when everyone was obsessed with those people who lived in isolation, communicating primarily through a social media app called "The Circle?" And remember how we all thought that would be the worst? Then we were treated to a glimpse into the world of tiger maintenance and murder conspiracies, sprinkled with a bit of feminist history. And mind you—that takes us only to March.
2020's slate of television series led us down a dark rabbit hole of competitive chess, properly acquainted us with the genius of Michaela Coel, reminded us just how incredible ol' Michael Jordan is, and sent us along on an emotional journey through a galaxy far, far away. Parsing all those hours of content down into a short list is a feat, but we settled on 35 of the year's best pockets of television.
So, yeah. Thank you TV. Thanks for being the friend we didn't know we'd rely on so much this year. We're thankful for everything you gave us—except you, Carole Baskin. You stay where you're at.
The Flight Attendant
Raise your hand if you had Kaley Cuoco's The Flight Attendant down in your predictions for best series of the year. Now put your damn hand down because no one saw The Flight Attendant coming. The series features Cuoco in her best role to date, mixing a bit of high drama, with comedy and camp. Pair her alongside either Rosie Perez or Michelle Gomez, and you damn near have magic. After a long tenure and a slew of jokes about The Big Bang Theory, Cuoco has proven that she's way more than you've been giving her credit for.
The Boys
Shrugging off any notion of a sophomore slump, Amazon's The Boys barreled into its second season with gusto. Coming off the big conclusion of season one, Butcher and the boys are on the run for a murder, so on top of unveiling the corruption behind the Seven and the abuse of their superpowers, they're also fugitives on the run for murder. A superhero series has the potential to veer into the unwieldy, but The Boys remains a tight show whose narrative in Season Two managed to hit tragically close to home.
Big Mouth
At this point, Big Mouth has become a comfortable TV staple. As Nick Kroll's animated series about adolescence makes its way into the eighth grade (read: hell), the series has shown its own form of growth. In Season Four, the series manages to continue its ability to be charmingly self-aware, calling itself out for voicing Black characters by white actors (Missy was officially recast by the end of season), introducing a trans character, and lovingly addressing race and sexuality and depression. The description itself sounds... bleak, right? But four seasons deep, it takes reading a description like that to remember exactly how much heavy lifting the series is doing without compromising a minute of comedy.
The Crown
The Crown has always had a high bar, but when you factor in an Olivia Colman-turn as the Queen, Gillian Anderson's haunting portrayal of Margaret Thatcher, and Elizabeth Debicki's nuanced portrayal of Princess Diana, it was obvious that this would be the most dazzling season to date. It would be easy for a series about the monarchy to grow stale over a few seasons, but The Crown has managed to pick apart the intense energy that is teeming underneath the surface of political abstention. You don't stay in power for nearly 75 years by having knee jerk reactions, and this season unwraps the volatility that comes by simply staying in place.
Sex Education
Maybe one of the keys to success is simply getting Gillian Anderson on your series (see above). Coming in with its second season, Netflix's Sex Education remains one of the smartest and most inclusive shows in the comedy line up right now. Though it was an early release in 2020, its sophomore season traversed the impossible lull that so many series face: not knowing where the story goes in Season Two. Instead of floundering, Sex Education took time to invest deeper in characters that weren't just Otis. The payoff is a broad bench of narratives for the third season, which is expected to be out in 2021.
The Undoing
David E. Kelley has found his new niche: popcorn TV about fancy white women in precarious positions. His newest installment is The Undoing: a psychological drama about a psychotherapist named Grace (Nicole Kidman) whose world is rocked when her oncologist husband Jonathan (Hugh Grant) is accused of a heinous murder. The series takes you through twists and turns, making you wonder exactly who is at fault for this crime. Even when it is unwieldy, the HBO series manages to draw you in with a charming turn from Hugh Grant, a woefully underused Lily Rabe and Donald Sutherland, a star-making turn for Noah Jupe, and of course—the queen of coats herself, Nicole Kidman.
The Mandalorian
Sophomore seasons can be hard, especially when you're an offshoot of a deeply (sometimes toxic!) beloved franchise like Star Wars. But you know what they say about assuming? It makes an ass out of you, and you alone, because you're probably the only person not watching Grogu (nee The Child, nee nee Baby Yoda) decimate cuteness standards. Let's be frank: the plot is perfectly fine, but we're all tuning in each week to see what Baby Yoda does. Never has such a precious creature made possible murder seem so adorable. (Point of clarification: we do not endorse genocide. We only endorse eating all the eggs if you're a baby.)
The Great British Bake Off
Just in time for the back half of the year, The Great British Bake Off returned. This season, host Sandi Toksvig was replaced by Matt Lucas (who you might have seen from Bridesmaids), but the gist remains the same. Amateur bakers descend on the big white tent in pursuit of the title of being the U.K.’s best baker. There are no big cash prizes. No deception. Just an unbridled love of making pastry, profiteroles, and pasties. Even more endearing: they’re all quarantined together for the duration of filming, making those earnest goodbyes even more heartfelt.
The Queen's Gambit
It’s been a while since we’ve been this into chess, but the Netflix adaptation of Walter Tevis’s 1983 novel is catching a lot of people’s attention. The miniseries follows orphaned Beth Harmon’s incredible trajectory as she aims to become the world’s best chess player. Riddled with addiction issues, the series spans 14 years and no—before you ask—it’s not based on a true story. But that’s a testament to just how good the show is because its rare that a story this good isn’t based in some semblance of reality.
I Know This Much is True
Mark Ruffalo takes on serious double duty in this HBO drama. He plays identical twins, which might seem like two-times the same role, but these two characters could not be more different. Following Dominick and Thomas, Dominick has the impossible task of helping manage his brother's paranoid schizophrenia. But as Thomas' condition continues to be unmanageable, Dominick discovers secrets at Thomas' hospital that puts him in a precarious position. The six-episode series is a difficult watch, filled with grief, sorrow, and a true trial on the human spirit, but it's some of the best storytelling and acting in 2020.
Away
Set in a not-so-distant, much more globalist future, Netflix’s Away follows the first (wo)manned mission to Mars, a massive international undertaking by five powerhouse nations, designed to span three long years. The Atlas Mission is captained by Commander Emma Green (Hilary Swank), a tough, brave, and selfless NASA veteran, who is soon keelhauled by personal tragedy when her husband Matt (Josh Charles) is paralyzed by a stroke. Their teenage daughter, Alexis (Talitha Bateman), already uncertain about being apart from her mother for three formative years, finds herself pushed to the emotional brink. In a time when so many of us are so far from the people who feel like home, Away is a dazzling show about the final frontier, but also a welcome parable about the matters of the heart that matter most, even in the face of unprecedented human progress.
Pen15
Pen15 has always been a show about girlhood and the bittersweetness of becoming, with Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle bringing heart and hilarity to the indignities of adolescence. In its sophomore outing, the show is darker, weirder, and more ambitious than ever, taking the girls through familiar adolescent beats of warring with their mothers, growing toward and away from a malevolent frenemy, and exploring new passions through joining forces with new cliques. Come for the hyper-specific evocation of adolescent life in the early 2000s, but stay for the tender portrait of friendship, family, and becoming.
Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi
If there is one person who you should trust to guide you across America, revealing the nuance of how your favorite foods are the result of the greatest melting pot in the world, look no further than Padma Lakshmi. Her Hulu series takes viewers inside the subtleties of even the most basic foods (the hot dog! of all things!) and makes you appreciate how even in these tumultuous times, America is this giant experiment whose roots represent all of us. Yes, even your damn hot dog.
Lovecraft Country
Lovecraft Country is HBO's boldest new release since Watchmen. The summer series from JJ Abrams and Jordan Peele follows Atticus Freeman, his friend, and his uncle, as they set off on a road trip across 1950s America, but it quickly becomes much more complicated than that. There are, of course, the racial terrors of mid-century America, but in this reality, there are also actual monsters.
Mythic Quest
When Mythic Quest premiered, Apple TV+ knew it had a very decent offering from Rob McElhenney. Solid enough with a fresh concept and promise for future seasons. The initial release of episodes was smart and fun, but the series went from good to great when it took a risk with a quarantine episode filmed remotely. By the time the episode dropped, the premise already seemed tired, but that's only because no one managed to do what Mythic Quest did. The comedy series ended up offering one of the most heartfelt looks at loneliness, distance, and the fear of living in a really scary time.
Dead to Me
Netflix's Dead to Me seemed like one of those shows that might be looking luck in the eyes if it created a second season. Fortunately, the follow up to Season One was just as charming and complex as the first season. Now navigating a second murder, Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini anchor the dark comedy with an expertise that has only strengthened since Season One. Even better, there is something slightly elevated to the series. The ominous humor that comes along with death is obviously the main draw, but beyond that, the series manages to create a world where humor, fear, sadness, and anger can all exist in one perfectly messy package.
I May Destroy You
This BBC One and HBO creation from Michaela Coel is one of the frontrunners for best new series of 2020. Coel stars as Arabella, a woman whose drink was spiked one night, leading to her sexual assault. The dramedy series follows Arabella as she tries to piece together the memories of her assault while also processing her status as a survivor of sexual assault. The series seems a bit severe on the surface, but the writing and execution takes the brutality of a heinous crime and wraps it in a mix of vulnerability, strength, and dark humor, creating something so far-removed from survivor stories you've seen in the past.
I'll Be Gone in the Dark
The story of the Golden State Killer is a daunting one. Over the course of more than a decade, an unnamed monster raped 50 women and killed 13 more across the state of California. Years later, one woman named Michelle McNamara became obsessed with the case, breaking it wide open with previously undiscussed evidence and leads. Her work, chronicled in the book I'll Be Gone in the Dark, inspires the HBO documentary of the same name. The six-part series dissects McNamara's extensive investigative work, her untimely passing, the arrest of Joseph James DeAngelo, and most importantly: how the survivors of DeAngelo's rampage have managed to cope all these years later.
Perry Mason
The modern Perry Mason has gotten quite a reboot. This HBO miniseries, starring Matthew Rhys, provides a stunning and stylish update to the mid-century CBS courtroom drama. What the miniseries sometimes lacks in coherent narrative is made up for with the incredible talents of Rhys, John Lithgow, and Tatiana Maslany. Pair that with the series' noir-style approach, and the relatively light-hearted franchise is all set for the dark angle it needs to be relevant in 2020.
The Great
Catherine the Great is having a moment. Late last year, the Russian ruler came to HBO in Catherine, a four-part miniseries starring Helen Mirren as the legendary empress in the twilight of her life. On the opposite end of the spectrum is this year’s Catherine offering: Hulu’s The Great, a 10-episode historical comedy starring Elle Fanning as the young German princess shipped off to Russia to become a bride for the depraved and dangerous Emperor Peter III. Fanning is sensational as the naive and idealistic Catherine, whose illusions about love and marriage are quickly dispelled by the dawning reality that Peter is a violent, capricious, small-minded man—and a danger to Russia. Catherine vows to dethrone him and take over as the visionary ruler of a more progressive Russia, but unseating a despot is never easy. Nicholas Hoult is sensational as Peter, bringing a thousand shades of whimsical cruelty to the violent delights of the Russian court. But as we know from history, even in this “occasionally true” story, it’s Catherine who gets the last “huzzah!”
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